Kill Them Wherever You Find Them (55 page)

Those working in the biometrics room of the
facility were pleased, though not at all surprised, to see this. A
person experiencing any feeling of guilt would have shown an
increased heat signature in the face, especially in the areas of
the cheeks and forehead. A sudden shock, on the other hand, in most
cases gives a reading of decreased heat as the blood drains from
the face. A heightened measurement of carbon dioxide, more than
would be expected in the course of normal breathing, indicated an
exaggerated exhalation of air from his lungs as Jeff heard the
news.

Thus far, all signs pointed to the fact that
Stauffenberg had no previous knowledge of the kidnapping. Almost
certainly he was innocent of any complicity of the events leading
up to the kidnapping as well. Had indicators pointed to any degree
of guilt or avoidance on his part, he would've gone immediately to
interrogation. Because nothing in his past, and nothing in the
biometric readings, indicated any form of deception on his part,
the driver was given a
green
light to take them to the main
facility.

"Thank you. I hope they have more information
when we arrive."

"I'm sure they will sir."

Entering the door of the Negev Desert
facility, Jeff was grateful to see Rachael at the far end of the
lobby, walking toward him. From the look of consternation under a
worried smile, he could tell that he she was glad to see him as
well.

"Rachael, so good to see you. On the way here
I was informed that Moshe was abducted, his wife killed. The
security agent in the car didn't have any more information than
that. What have you heard?"

"Unfortunately, little more than you know."
Rachael's voice had a slight quiver in it. "The leadership of
The Project
was called in earlier today. In the meeting we
were provided a little more detail, as it was made available by
agents on location in Brazil, such as approximate time and
location. The killing and kidnapping transpired while they were on
vacation in Brazil. Beyond that not much is known, other than the
fact that it was professionally executed, and exceptionally well
organized."

"Do you know why I'm here?"

"Yes, I do. The general has ordered that a
team be sent back to Brazil, thirty days before the time of the
abduction. I believe it is strictly for surveillance purposes. The
team will be you plus four other individuals."

"We've never had that many people
land
at once. What did Dr. Barkat say?"

"She expressed some concern, but the general
overrode her. Given the gravity of the situation, not to mention
some pretty powerful implications, I think that she, as well as
everybody else, agrees with the general. There are times when one
must throw caution to the wind. This is one of them."

"Yes, I can think of several implications.
Aside from learning who abducted Dr. Levin, do you know what our
mission parameters are?"

"I believe the who, how, and when, pretty
much complete your mission parameters. Udi Ra'am and his team are
going to focus on how somebody knew about Moshe's work with
The
Project
. All things considered, it's believed by the two
intelligence agencies that the abduction had to be associated with
his role here. Further, with the previous timeline altered, it is
believed that this had to be an inside job. One or more people who
work here must have leaked the information."

"I agree with that assessment, Rachael. Do
intelligence and military believe that the traitor may have been in
Brazil at the time of the abduction?"

"I don't know. We didn't get into such
details. You and the other four team members will have a briefing
tonight. I'm certain at that time you'll be given a complete
information packet."

"I'm sure you're right. My only other concern
would be, what if one of the four people time traveling with me
proves to be the traitor?"

"That thought crossed my mind as well."

~ ~ ~

The briefing continued into the late hours of
the evening, each team member memorizing schematics of the resort,
and a map of the surrounding area.

Of the five, Jeff was the only person fluent
in Portuguese; a language he had learned as a missionary in Brazil,
fortuitously maintaining fluency during the intervening years.

All five spoke English fluently, the other
four agents having immigrated to Israel from English speaking
countries. One had a New Zealander accent that was difficult for
Jeff to understand if he spoke too quickly.

Their cover was that they were international
purchasers for a large corporation that was looking to expand into
the South American market, locating their regional offices in
Rio.

Jeff would take the lead in any matter which
required communication with the locals. Each of the other four
agents had their own specialties: human and electronic
surveillance, interrogation, extraction, and counter-espionage.

The General had hoped to send them back a
full thirty days before the abduction occurred but a review of the
records of the resort indicated that they were better served
landing
eight days before the abduction. In this time frame,
it was learned, two suites on the same floor as the Levins' would
be available. Each agent would occupy their own suite of rooms,
requiring the other three to stay on different floors.

It was vital that the team not make any
contact with the Mossad operatives assigned to the Levins. They
were there strictly to observe, not interfere in any way whatsoever
unless their lives were threatened.

"That concludes the briefing, gentlemen, are
there any questions?"

"If we are unable to get the radioisotope
tracker in Dr. Levin's food, what is the fallback plan?"

"The fact that he and his wife will have
Mossad agents with them at all times, the reality is that you
probably won't be able to introduce the isotope into his food.
Because we have to be careful to not tip off the assigned agents to
the fact that something is amiss, there is no fallback plan. Just
do the best you can to identify those involved in the abduction,
photographing and recording their movements and all others with
whom they make contact, even those contacts which may seem
unimportant."

"We are not so much concerned with tracking
Levin, as we already know that he has been placed on a yacht,
headed toward Europe. We are tracking that yacht via live visual
and infrared satellite feeds from here. Your sole goal is to fully
document the persons involved, allowing us to not only identify
them but, hopefully, also identify the mole within
The
Project
."

Table of Contents

5. Loose Ends

“
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is
knowing which ones to keep.”
- Scott Adams

MI6 Headquarters and Office of the
British Prime Minister, London, England

Sir Neville Pearce, III
was furious. His
bulbous nose and cheeks, already reddened by broken capillaries
thanks to his Irish genetics, now matched the rest of his face and
visible neck.

"This is unacceptable. Unacceptable! Do you
hear me?"

The mercurial nature of the Director of the
Secret Intelligence Services was well known within the
rank-and-file. Best known simply as the SIS, more typically known
by the defunct title MI6 to outsiders and still used jokingly by
insiders mocking popular television shows, Sir Pierce was the best
Director the organization had ever known. Without question, the
reason for his high level of success was most likely because he was
the most demanding.

The poor sod delivering the decrypted message
had no choice but to endure his full wrath.

"Sir, yes sir. Totally unacceptable."

"I want it confirmed that the execution order
was not fulfilled."

"That has been confirmed, Sir. Agent Hampton
called the order in to HQ for the kill confirmation. He was told to
not
execute Dr. Levin under any circumstance. The on-site
doctor is keeping Levin under heavy sedation until they arrive at
their destination."

"And Agent Northrup? Where is she now?"

"Sir, she is en route to the facility where
she is employed. Her cover held, nobody appears to have missed her
these last couple of days."

"Thank heavens for small favors. Under no
circumstances do I want her making contact with us again, unless it
is an absolute emergency. She screwed up so badly, after this
operation, she is to be dismissed from service."

"Yes sir."

"After his debriefing, agent Hampton is to be
restricted to a desk job, until I say otherwise. That he killed
Mrs. Levin was appallingly poor judgment on his part. Were there a
possibility to get information from Dr. Levin, it died with her.
After the dust is settled, he'll be lucky to be scrubbing
toilets!"

"Will that be all, Sir?"

"For now, yes. When you get to your desk,
tell Reginald I need to see him."

Reginald Davies, 'Reggie' to everybody but
the formal, unyielding director of the SIS, was the man you wanted
when a mess had to be cleaned up quickly and with utter discretion
and anonymity.

Not a loner in the strictest sense of the
word, Reggie preferred to blend into the background socially; that
was just his way. Slight build, thick glasses, intelligent but with
the logic that often eluded others, he took great pride in his
work.

Reggie knew how to 'doctor' computer
documents, reinserting the altered documents to match the
appearance and electronic meta tags of the original. No evidence of
computer or network tampering was ever left in his wake.

His skills didn't stop there. A master
manipulator, he was able to get people to do as he pleased,
utilizing blackmail on rare occasion when nothing else would
suffice. An assassin, par excellence, his victims never once saw
his face. As a matter of fact, Reggie was never near his victims
when he sent them to meet their Maker.

Specializing in bombs, detonated either by a
remote signal, air pressure, or timer, he altered the explosive
materials and detonation construction, each time, so that he would
never be identified as the common denominator in each
assassination. No two bombs had a matching design 'fingerprint'
that could be traced back to him, or his organization.

Reggie didn't relish those instances when he
was required to carry out 'wet work,' eliminate a person, or group
of people. It simply was something that had to be done for the
greater good, and he was exceptional in this particular skill
set.

Cool, calculating, ruthless, efficient, an
imperceptible 'ghost' when needed, with a childlike face of perfect
innocence, Reggie was well like by those who didn't know his job
description. Those who did know respected him while maintaining a
healthy distance.

A slight rap on the solid oak door alerted
the Director to his arrival. Walking furtively as a cat the
Director realized that he had never heard Frederick walk, or make
any other sound as he moved about; not once.

"You requested my presence, Sir?"

"Yes Frederick, it seems we have a rather
unfortunate situation on our hands."

The Director always referred to him as,
'Frederick,' never by his title 'Special Agent' or by his last
name. Freddie mused that this was either out of respect,
subconscious fear, emotional distancing, or more likely a
combination of the three.

"So I am given to understand. How would you
like me to proceed?"

The already irate director was a little
irritated by his response, but not in the least surprised by the
fact that Frederick was already aware of the situation. His ability
to deftly extract information from people, without them realizing
it, was one of the reasons he was so exceptionally good at what he
did. Thankfully, his allegiance to the Director and the SAS was
absolute. It wouldn't do to have such an efficiently treacherous
man as an enemy.

"As you are no doubt aware, we abducted an
Israeli scientist from a resort in Brazil with the expectation of
obtaining vital information that we need to complete a project
currently underway. In the course of the kidnapping, the wife of
the scientist was killed along with three Mossad agents."

"Quite right. I can see how that would pose a
problem. Again, how would you like me to handle this?"

The man was so damned infuriating!

Shaking his head slightly, the director
spelled it out for him, "The Israelis know what happened. What they
don't know is who was behind it. They're sniffing around the
resort, gathering forensic and trace evidence. They've already
interviewed the general manager as well as the person in charge of
human resources, nothing we can do about that now."

"I need you to go to Israel. We have an
operative working in a top-secret facility there. She has become a
liability that, if discovered, would prove London's complicity in
the abduction. Eliminate her with extreme prejudice. Take whatever
assets you require."

"I think it best that I do this job alone. I
have a source in Israel who can provide me with whatever equipment
I need, for a price. Has the packet on my target been
completed?"

"Yes. Maria has everything prepared,
including your cover documentation, money wired to an account in
Bank Hapoalim, with a corresponding passport. I would remind you
that your target works at a high-security location in Israel.
Security there is, in fact, tighter than that around the
Knesset."

"I don't anticipate, Sir, that to be any
problem whatsoever."

"Good man. I didn't think that it would."

~~~

"Yes Mr. Prime Minister, I have my best man
on the job."

The director of SIS was always impressed with
the Prime Minister. Small of stature, he was nonetheless a giant
among men in political and diplomatic circles. Where members of
Parliament preferred opulence, the Prime Minister reminded him of
the Roman Catholic Pope, finding elegance within simplicity. While
the Pope was able to set the standard, correcting wayward cardinals
and bishops as needed, the Prime Minister held no such ultimate
authority. Pity, given the dire straits of the British Empire's
finances.